Wimbledon spat: Williams, Sharapova trade volleys

LONDON — As her agent nodded along approvingly from a front-row seat, Serena Williams sounded contrite and composed. Well-rehearsed, too.

Williams even managed to crack herself up with a couple of jokes during her news conference at Wimbledon as the defending champion, where the primary topic was hardly her 31-match winning streak or her bid for a sixth title at the All England Club or her injured sister Venus’ absence from the field.

Instead, more than half the questions at Sunday’s session revolved around themes generating the most buzz on the eve of tennis’ oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam tournament: what Williams was quoted as saying in a recent magazine article — and Maria Sharapova’s surprisingly forceful verbal swipe in reaction to that story.

“It definitely hasn’t been easy,” the No. 1-ranked Williams said about the stir created by a Rolling Stone profile posted online Tuesday. “And I feel like I really wanted to say: I apologize for everything that was said in that article.”

Williams already had issued a statement expressing regret for remarks about the 16-year-old victim in the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case.

On Sunday, Williams said she approached the No. 3-ranked Sharapova to try to smooth things over by extending an apology at a pre-tournament players’ party Thursday.